Ismail Haniyeh: An extremist who encourages terror attacks during quiet times

He is considered no less extremist than Khaled Mashal and even during times of temporary respite, he encourages terror attacks. This is Haniyeh, the Gazan Hamas terror leader who has risen in the ranks to head the Hamas political bureau.

Ismail Haniyeh, who is considered just as extremist as his predecessor Khaled Mashal, has reached the peak of his power. During periods of respite, he still encourages terror attacks against Israel. He opposes recognizing Israel and supports violence. He heads the Hamas government in Gaza with the full backing of the terror group and now, JOL reported that he will be in charge of the Hamas political bureau.

Until 15 years ago, Haniyeh was the office head, representative and even spokesman of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Hamas terror group who was eliminated, in public. Prior to that, for 10 years, he worked for Hamas charities as well as at the Islamic University of Gaza.

The biggest change in his life came after the elimination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi shortly afterwards. Following the leadership void in the terror group, Haniyeh took over the terror group. In the 2006 elections, Hamas won and Haniyeh became Palestinian Prime Minister for the first time subordinate to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The peak of his power came after Hamas violently took over the Gaza Strip, which gave him the status of de facto ruler by the virtue of him heading the Hamas government in the coastal strip. In 2013, Haniyeh was elected deputy head of the Hamas political bureau. And now, he is taking full control of the terror group.